Decision Expected in Friday the 13th Rights Lawsuit By Mid-2020

The rights to the Friday the 13th franchise are currently locked up in a legal dispute, but that should be resolved by the middle of next year. For those who have missed the story, Sean Cunningham, who directed the original Friday the 13th, has been fighting with screenwriter Victor Miller over the rights to the film. A judge ruled last year that Miller was the sole owner of the US rights to the original screenplay and should co to him due to the termination right of the Copyright Act, which allows authors to regain rights to a work after 35 years under certain conditions. Cunningham disputed that in court, arguing that Miller wrote the script as work for hire and thus didn’t own the rights in the first place.

Larry Zerner, who played Shelly Finkelstein and is also a copyright lawyer, noted on Twitter on Friday that the lawsuit is with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and oral arguments are proposed for February 10th with a decision thus likely for June. You can see his post below.

The legal wrangling over the rights is preventing new films from being made, while also having an impact on all sorts of licensing issues for merchandise and the like.

Update in Horror, Inc. v. Miller (#Fridaythe13th case). The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has proposed oral arguments for the week of February 10th, 2020.

This means there will probably be a decision by June 2020.

— Larry Zerner (@Zernerlaw) November 22, 2019